Monday, January 2, 2012

Wade Watts is your average Joe, living in a future that has been so degraded and damaged that the only escape for most is to log into the virtual world of the OASIS and live out their lives there. In the OASIS, the rules of the real world don’t apply. You can be whomever or whatever you want, do things that are impossible in the real world, and perhaps even escape your hellish life. The OASIS, created by genius James Halliday, is the only bright spot to Wade’s existence. Since the day Halliday died there has been a serious competition underway. Halliday has hidden an “Easter egg” (a hidden message or item) inside the virtual world and everyone is trying to find it. To find the egg will bring untold wealth and power, and for a young man who is anything but powerful and wealthy, the promise of finding the egg is too great to ignore. Wade, along with several other Egg Hunters, known as “Gunters,” has been searching the OASIS for this egg for five years. One day, an unexpected development and a few strokes of luck land Wade smack dab in the center of the competition. Now it’s only a matter of time until the egg is found and control of the OASIS is handed over to the winner. But Wade and his fellow Gunters aren’t the only ones who want the egg; there is a much greater and more powerful force in play that will stop at nothing to get it. Now Wade must decide if he wants to band together with a group of fellow Gunters or go it alone and risk the wrath of some very dangerous individuals. Breathtaking and highly original, this action-packed novel will have readers cheering, even as they marvel at the virtual world that’s being constructed around them.

When the buzz started going around with this book a few months ago, I felt that it would probably be a perfect read for my family because we are all sort of geeky technology lovers, and Lord knows that we would probably go into paroxysms of distress if our Internet was taken away. I decided to give a digital copy of this book to my son and daughter and grab an audio version for myself and my husband to listen to. We shared it over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays and thought it would be really fun to write a bit of a joint review. Both Frank and I are big on the 80s, and having grown up during that time period, this book was the perfect choice for us, and as it turns out, the kids loved it as well. This review will be structured a bit differently than most of my others, with both Frank and I having one paragraph to ourselves in order to share our thoughts with you.

Heather: I had a great time with this one, and though there were places where the story moved a little slowly, most of the time I was greatly entertained by all the nerdy little 80s references and the slightly dorky coolness of Wade. I think the choice of Wil Wheaton as narrator was absolutely perfect. He had just the level of energy, inflection and emotion to make this a stellar audio production. While I enjoyed the worldbuilding of the OASIS, I would have loved to see more worldbuilding outside the virtual realm, but really, there was very little to complain about. It had the perfect proportion of action, intrigue and 80s flavor that was able to ensnare me into a nerdy little tangle and get my blood pumping. There wasn’t a lot of predictability to this tale, which I also enjoyed, and I had a lot of fun trying to figure out where Cline was going to lead me and where the story would eventually end up. It was a perfect choice for all those readers who self identify as geeks or nerds.

Frank: Speaking of self-identified geeks... Hello! While not an 80s freak by any means, I did live my teenage years in that decade and I have a lot of fond memories from that time. I’m also something of a technophile, always looking around the corner for the next fantastic technology. This novel was a stunningly adroit melding of those two interests. The OASIS is the ultimate virtual reality: a three-dimensional immersive tactile experience where almost anything is possible. The clues to finding Halliday’s Egg all revolve around 80s trivia, since he himself grew up during that time. Some I was familiar with but a lot was new to me, which created the perfect balance to keep things interesting. In addition to 80s trivia, there’s action, adventure, romance (not too much!) and enough geeky fantasy to keep the most discriminating nerd salivating. I thoroughly enjoyed this book!

As you can clearly see by Frank’s reaction to this book, it’s a lot of fun for all types of readers that range through every level of the nerdy spectrum. What Cline was able to accomplish with this story goes way beyond a lot of other dystopians and cyber-themed books I’ve seen. It certainly was an immersive experience, and coupled with the fact that the narrative basically revolved around an immersive universe, everything about this book and these particular readers just gelled. A great read to share with that special geek in your life.

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comments:

How fun to hear from both of you! I am the only person in the universe who hasn't yet read this book (well except for the 200 people in front of me on the hold list at the library!) so I'm hoping it will be available to me one of these days!

GREAT idea for your review! This was lots of fun to read. While I had my doubts when I first saw this book popping up in the blogosphere, the more reviews I see of it, the more likely I am to actually try it. It sounds like a good one.

"A great read to share with that special geek in your life." I LOVE THAT! :)

Hello, Frank! It's great when our significant others like to join us in the reading frenzy that us bloggers have :)

I really need to pick this one up. I've seen quite the buzz about it and it's made a lof of "Best Of" lists for 2011, so clearly I am way behind. Being a self-proclaimed technology-nut myself, it's really no excuse that I haven't read it yet!

Happy New Year to you both! Heather, I hope I'm able to head to the Naples, Florida SIBA event this year so I can see you again!

What a fun review!! I wasn't so sure about this book going into it, but I loved it too. The 80s references were so much fun and I loved the suspense of it all. I read the book but now wish I'd gotten the audio for Carl and I to listen to together.

I loved your guys's review! I'm thinking Jason and I would probably enjoy this together as well, although I still wonder if I'll love it as much as everyone else. I love that your whole family was able to read and enjoy this though!

This is one of the last books that I read in 2011, but of course I still haven't written about it yet! All those plans I had to blog over vacation obviously didn't come to fruition...

I borrowed this one from the library after reading so many reviews that talked about how fun and quick it was to read. Also, who can resist a quest novel? Unfortunately, I wound up feeling pretty underwhelmed by it, largely because I felt the writing was a bit lazy and the storytelling just didn't feel very fresh to me. I think that if I had really spent my formative years in the '80s (rather than being born in the early '80s) I might have liked the book more for its nostalgia factor, but overall it didn't really do much for me. I do love that you and your husband were able to share this one together and enjoyed it so much, though! It's always so lovely when you find a book you can share with your partner!

I loved reading this dual review! Ready Player One is a book I would have easily passed up in the library but after reading your review of it, I think it's one I need to read. It sounds so different from what I'm used to. I hope you guys do more reviews like this in the future. :-)

I enjoyed reading your two perspectives! I admit I really wasn't interested in this book the first time I heard about it, but the more reviews I read, the more I am becoming interested. I wonder what my own husband geek might think of this one . . .

I am so excited that you and your husband enjoyed this one too! it's one of my favorites last year even though I couldn't relate to a lot of the 80s references. Loved reading your thoughts. I actually found the ending a bit predictable and convenient, but no complaints, it was a wonderful ride.

I read this book recently and will post a review soon. I didn't expect to like it as much as I did but I found it very entertaining for the most part. One section later in the book irritated me a bit but I'm probably being a little picky.

I love that your entire family read or listened to this book and all loved it!

I love this family review -- and I love even more how your whole family was happy to read the book with you. My husband is a huge reader, but we NEVER read the same books, not even the same kind of books, lol. And while I read to my daughter every day for most of her young life, and she grew up in a house where both of her parents constantly had their nose in a book, now that she is in college, she just doesn't read (for fun -- I have to trust that she's reading her coursework materials).

I had to smile at your comment about what your reaction would be to a loss of the internet -- we have lost the internet, and it wasn't pretty around here till it got restored.

Oh a couple's review! How fun! I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it both, it sounds like a very different and refreshing read. I got my copy about a week ago and the Man of the House seemed interested by it, too. Isn't it nice to share some of the books we read with our close ones?